‘Big Hero 6′ – Disney Announces Their First Animated Marvel Movie

When Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, many immediately began to speculate about what this would mean for Disney (or Pixar) animated movies based on some of our favorite superheroes. Today, almost four years later, we have an official announcement from Disney on their first ever animated Marvel movie. Meet 'Big Hero 6.'

Some of you might be disappointed that we're not getting a Disney 'Spider-Man' movie or a Pixar 'Iron Man' movie but the animation studio specifically wanted to start with a smaller, more obscure title and they've certainly found that in 'Big Hero 6.' Launched in 1998 as a spinoff of sorts from "Alpha Flight," "Big Hero 6" is sort of a Japanese-set version of 'The Avengers' with the government recruiting superhuman operatives to join a team at their disposal.

Here's the official plot synopsis:

From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes “Big Hero 6,” an action comedy adventure about brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion — a robot named Baymax — Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city. Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring comic-book style action and all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the CG-animated “Big Hero 6” hits theaters in 3D on November 7, 2014.

The team was made up of Silver Samurai, Sunfire, Gogo Tamago, Honey Lemon, Hiro Takachiho, Sunpyre, Baymax and, the cute little guy you see above, Fred. It's unclear if this lineup will appear in the Disney version but considering that Silver Samurai appears in 'The Wolverine' for Fox, we'll assume he's not making the jump to this Disney film.

While the comics were set in Tokyo, the film will be set in San Fransokyo, a mythical city created by the Disney animators for this movie. Not much else is known about the film yet, but you can see a 30-second animation test below (along with concept art of the Tokyo-fication of the Golden Gate Bridge), which is pretty impressive.

The film is officially scheduled for release on November 7, 2014 and, if it's successful, could pave the way for even more collaborations between Disney Animation and Marvel.